For his first graphic novel about the Caped Crusader , author and decorator Chip Kidd ( who worked on Bat - Manga ! and scads of famous book covers ) teamed up with illustrator Dave Taylor ( 2000 AD ) for the upcoming Batman : Death By Design .
In this love letter to the concrete canyons of Gotham City , leery edifice accidents place Batman at betting odds with both The Joker and a secret homo named Exacto . curb out an exclusive first feel at some pages from Death By Design and our interview with Kidd about this undertaking .
Here ’s an all - new , three - page episode from the book , which hits comic shops May 30 . The synopsis :
Gotham City is undergo one of the most expansive twist booms in its story . The most prestigious architects from across the globe have buildings in various phases of completion all over town . As president of the Gotham Landmarks Commission , Bruce Wayne has been a cardinal part of this boom , which signals a golden eld of architectural ingenuity for the city . And then , the explosions begin . All manner of design - related malfunctions – incorrect Grus computing , stalwart materials suddently collapsing , software bug , paseo establish way and much more – cause casualties across the urban center . This bizarre chain of on the face of it random , scattered disaster threaten to play the whole grammatical construction industriousness down . Fingers are pointed as Batman must somehow work out the trouble and notice whoever is behind it all .
How did this labor come about ?
Chip Kidd : I got this sinful chance where [ DC Comics editor ] Dan DiDio enunciate , “ Do a Batman pictorial novel for us . ” It became a casing of the “ be - careful - what - you - want - fors . ” Even though I ’m a womb-to-tomb Batman fan , I did n’t have the Batman novel in my caput I had been dying to indite for 20 years . What I came up with first was the title , as it sounded like a fib I could bring in something to .
I start thinking about living and working in New York , and one of the great tragedies was the end of the original Pennsylvania Station in 1963 , because it was a beautiful building needlessly charge down . As somebody who has to habituate the modern Penn Station , it ’s a horrible , repress thing , after they confuse it in the basement of Madison Square Garden . And there were these Manhattan crane collapses in the bounce of 2008 . I think , “ How could these two thing possibly be related ? ” Batman is very much about architecture , as he utilise the building as transportation and defense . Great Batman stories always incorporate architecture in some way , but I had n’t seen a story that in particular dealt with that .
Gotham City has had so many characterisation over the year , from modern metropolis to cramped Dickensian snake pit . What architectural cues did you and Dave Taylor give Gotham ?
The visual direction is very much based on Metropolis by Fritz Lang and this designer diagnose Hugh Ferriss , who was this visionary 1920s-1930s architectural renderer ofthese great black-market - and - white monolithic buildings that are render at night get off up from the street . That for me has always been quintessential Gotham City . This projection is very much a love letter to pencil on paper . There ’s a cliché that Gotham is “ hell possible action up on Earth , ” but that ’s not the way I approached it . I see the computer architecture as much more hopeful than a zoning add-in gone berserk .
Are you and Dave placing your own mark on certain Gotham landmark like Arkham Asylum or Wayne Manor ?
I did n’t do Arkham . Wayne Manor and the Batcave are there , but we do n’t really go into it . Wayne Central Station is the force back engine of the plot of land . When crop on a Batman comedian , it ’s important to implore limitations on yourself . Commissioner Gordon is one of my favorite character reference , but I could n’t find a compelling reason to put him in the tarradiddle . He ’s mentioned offhand , but that ’s it .
There ’s no place for Robin in this story either . When I handed the first draught into my editor in chief , he enunciate , “ You do take in you ’re not using the classic Batman villains . ” I read , “ Am I allowed to ? ” And he responded , “ for sure . ” So how could I not write The Joker ? He works well to bring topsy-turvyness into the proceedings .
Can you tell us a little more about Exacto , the architecturally themed fictional character who debuts in Death By Design ?
When we first match him , he ’s an architectural critic as Batman scoundrel . He warns citizens , “ This building is architecturally unsound and will shortly cave in , ” the buildings falls over , and then he just vanishes . Is he making this happen or just warning us about faulty construction ? We presently see that he ’s a vigilante with his own docket , exposing the stinky hooey of the Gotham City building swop .
ArchitectureBatmanComicsDC Comics
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